One day, a lady came to a yarn store that I was overseeing at that time. She brought a gorgeous handmade scarf and asked me to figure out the stitch pattern used to make it. She said that she tried to decipher the pattern but couldn’t. As she put it – “it is some kind of black magic”.
The scarf was knitted in a honeycomb brioche pattern, and I assure you, we don’t need black magic to make it.
In this tutorial, I’ll show you how to add this stitch pattern to scarves, blankets, cardigans and other projects knitted back and forth.
Cast on an even number of stitches. We’ll use two of these stitches as selvedges to make sure the edges of our project are neat and tidy.
In this tutorial, we’ll treat those selvedge stitches as slip-stitch selvedges because it is an easy and effective way to frame brioche fabric.
If you are looking for an even better finishing touch to your project, use brioche selvedges. They go really well with honeycomb brioche pattern.
As to the type of the cast-on technique, feel free to use any one you like, as long as it forms a non-elastic edge. Just as it is the case with any brioche fabric, honeycomb brioche is quite stretchy. It is better to keep it tamed with a sturdy cast-on edge.
For my little swatch, I cast on 10 stitches using the long-tail cast on.
In the first row, we’ll set up the stitches for building the pattern. This row is not included in the pattern repeat. We’ll work it only once.
SET-UP ROW (wrong side of the work)
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Slip the first stitch purlwise with the yarn at the back of the work (this is our first selvedge stitch).
[ Make a yarn over, slip 1 stitch purlwise with the yarn at the back of the work, knit 1 ].
Repeat the brackets until you get to the last stitch of the row.
Purl the last stitch. This is the second selvedge stitch.
To streamline the process of making a yarn over + slipping a stitch, (a) place the working yarn on the tip of the left needle.
(b) Insert the tip of the right needle under the yarn and into the next stitch.
(c) Take the left needle out of the stitch leaving both the yarn strand (that’s our yarn over) and the stitch on the right needle.
This way, we make a yarn over and slip a stitch in one simple motion.
Because we added yarn overs in this row, the total number of stitches increased. When you count stitches, don’t count yarn overs, or count a yarn over + the stitch that is the closest to it as one stitch. This yarn over + stitch combo is often called a “brioche stitch”.
Once we complete the set-up row, the pattern is established and we can confidently move on to working on the pattern repeat. It consists of only four rows, but we can make the process of making honeycomb brioche pattern even easier when we remember two simple rules:
RULE #1
In every right side row, we will knit every stitch and slip every yarn over purlwise with the yarn at back of the work.
RULE #2
In every wrong side row, we’ll knit together each pair of a yarn over + a stitch that is the closest to it, we’ll make a yarn over in front of each stitch that stands alone and slip that “lonely” stitch purlwise with the yarn at the back of the work.
To follow these rules, it is important to know whether the row we are about to work is a right side or a wrong side row.
That’s why we are going to do one more thing before we start building the pattern – turn the work and place a marker to mark the right side of the work.
Every time you see the marker facing you, you will know that you are about to start a right side row.
Now we are all set to work the four rows of the pattern repeat.
ROW 1 (right side of the work)
Slip the first stitch (selvedge), then [ knit 2, slip 1 purlwise with the yarn at the back of the work ].
The slipped stitch should always be a yarn over, not a regular stitch.
Repeat the brackets until you get to the last stitch, then purl the last stitch (the other selvedge).
ROW 2 (wrong side of the work)
Slip the first stitch, then [ knit 2 together (it should be a pair of a yarn over + stitch), make a yarn over and slip 1 purlwise with the yarn at the back of the work ].
To simplify the process of making a yarn over and slipping a stitch, place the working yarn on the tip of the left needle and slip it together with a stitch, just as we did in the set-up row.
Repeat the brackets until you get to the last stitch, and purl the last stitch.
ROW 3 (right side of the work)
Slip the first stitch, [ knit 1, slip 1 with the yarn at the back of the work, knit 1 ].
Same as it is true in row 1 of the pattern, the slipped stitch should always be a yarn over.
Repeat the brackets to the last stitch, purl the last stitch.
ROW 4 (wrong side of the work)
Slip the first stitch, [ make a yarn over, slip 1 with the yarn at the back of the work, knit 2 together (yarn over + stitch) ].
Repeat the brackets to the last stitch, purl the last stitch.
Work these four rows and you will see that the fabric you make turns soft and puffy right under your hands.
BIND OFF
When you are ready to bind off stitches, do it in aright side row as follows: knit together every yarn over + stitch duo, knit every stand-alone stitch and don’t make any yarn overs.
For example, in my swatch, the last right side row is row 3 of the pattern repeat.
Here’s how I worked it – I knitted the first stitch, then I knitted together the next yarn over + stitch duo and passed the second stitch on the right needle over the first one to bind off one stitch.
Then I knitted the “lonely” stitch and bound it off. I worked in the same fashion until I got to the last stitch of the row, I knitted it and finished binding off stitches.
How amazing is it that two simple rules and a 4-row pattern repeat form such a beautiful cozy texture on the right side of the work while creating the look of reverse stockinette stitch on the wrong side of the fabric. Maybe it is some kind of magic after all
SAVE IT FOR LATER
This and 44 other in-depth tutorials are part of Knitting Collection #5.
